


Headed Home

by katikat



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 12:42:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14378895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katikat/pseuds/katikat
Summary: Jack’s headed home from Afghanistan. He should be overjoyed. He’s not. Damn it! Jack’s POV. (Unbeta'd)





	Headed Home

When Jack leaves the barracks for the last time, the door slamming shut behind him with too familiar a screech, the duffle with his few earthly possessions flung over his shoulder, the kid’s waiting there for him, in his camo pants and a beige t-shirt, squinting up at him in the blinding Afghan sun.

“Finally headed home, huh?” MacGyver says, smiling warmly.

Jack can see that Mac’s happy for him yet also a little sad. When they first met, Jack wanted to strangle the little know-it-all but then, over the course of the last two months, the skinny bomb nerd somehow managed to worm his way right through Jack Dalton’s defenses and now, now instead of being glad to go home, Jack feels, well,  _apprehensive_ about leaving the kid here alone. Who’ll watch Mac’s back while he’s pulling his mad scientist stunts?

“Yeah, yeah, headed home, to the Big State of Texas,” Jack replies with little enthusiasm as he walks down the three dusty steps.

Mac nods, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Walk you out?” he asks, nodding in the direction the softly rumbling Humvee that’s waiting for Jack and a couple of other lucky idiots who get to leave this hellhole and go home.

“Sure,” Jack agrees and when he starts walking, his partner in crime these last two months joins him.

For once, Jack’s not interested in talking about Texas or his family or anything like that, all he can think about are Afghanistan’s battlefields and the dangers they pose for an EOD tech. “So, what’s in store for you next, kid?” he asks.

Mac shrugs, looking straight ahead. “Out on a missing first thing tomorrow, the usual.”

Jack glances at him. “Who’s your new Overwatch?”

“I don’t know, I think the CO hasn’t decided yet. From what I gather, for once we have more EOD techs than people to cover them, but most are still wet behind the ears, just in from the States and with little field experience,” Mac explains, smiling a little at the irony. For weeks now, their unit’s been denied any bomb tech reinforcements and now that Jack, one of the few soldiers who actually volunteered for the position of Overwatch, is headed home, their request was granted. That’s the army for you.

Frowning, Jack stops walking and reaches out to halt Mac, too. “You’re  _not_ going out there alone, are you, slick?” he asks with a stern expression on his face. He remembers very well what happened the last time the kid ran off on his own: he almost got grabbed by gun-toting locals.

Smiling, Mac shakes his head. “Don’t worry. I promise not to do anything stupid.”

“Hard to imagine that,” Jack grumbles.

“Yo, Dalton! Get your ass in gear!” a shout echoes from the direction of the car and the driver sticks his head out of the rolled down window, thumping the door hard with the flat of his hand impatiently. “We have a plane to catch!”

Jack grimaces a little. He  _should_ be overjoyed. He isn’t.  _Damn it._

“Well,” Mac says to break the awkward silence that settled over them, reaching out with his right hand. “Good luck, Jack. And thanks for having my back these last couple of months. I know I didn’t make it exactly easy for you,” he adds with a sheepish grin.

“You bet you didn’t!” Jack mutters grumpily as he shakes the kid’s hand but it’s an obligatory complaint, lacking heart and conviction. “You watch out, you hear me? That ticker of yours is in the right place but sometimes, your brain gets the better of you and you forget where you actually are, that not everybody over here’s grateful for Uncle Sam’s presence. And I won’t be here anymore to make sure you don’t get dead!”

Mac’s smile widens a little and he nods and Jack lets go of his hand reluctantly. Then he clears his throat, and patting Mac’s shoulder in a friendly, comforting gesture, he walks past him, towards the Humvee, determined not to look back, to look forward only, to leave all this behind and head home and be with his family again…

“Hey, Jack!” Mac calls after him and when Jack turns, the kid stands at attention, back ramrod straight, and gives him a sharp, exemplary salute. “It was an honor serving with you, Sergeant Dalton.”

Jack’s throat thickens and his eyes prickle a little. Swallowing hard, he returns the salute, honest and serious, because the kid deserves it, that and more. “You too, Specialist MacGyver.”


End file.
